Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 86: What A Song

   Juni and Rico stared at Bleid in a speechless manner as they were still in shock on how quick he disposed Gemari and Garl and while they were staring, Bleid points his finger at Rico.
  "You're next." Bleid said as his eyes glowed.
 "Rico, listen to me: i need you to leave me behind and go after Garl and Gemari." Juni said.
  "Huh?" Rico said as he glanced at Juni.
 "Garl and Gemari are obviously injured and more likely on the brink of death because of him; on top of that, he has shown to be on the level of the higher ranked candidates." Juni said, "If you engage him, you will die. I am the main person he wants; anyone who gets in his way, he will destroy without a second thought and you are in his way."
  "But Juni-"
   Bleid swiftly interrupts Rico with a kick across his face on mid air that sent Rico sliding over the ground with the side of his head crashing through obstacles.
   "Get out." Bleid said.
 Juni launched her fist to strike Bleid from behind but Bleid appears behind her and chuckled.
 "Too slow." Bleid said.
   Juni twirls her body to land a back fist on Bleid with her aura covered hand, but Bleid showed up at her side and attacks with a high knee to her temple that made her violently tumble on the ground. Juni steadies herself and slams her palms against the ground while her irises glowed.
  "Jade ice: winter bloom!" Juni said as she spreads her arms apart, creating a green barrier that flashed across the section they stood and froze everything in the act.
 However, Bleid's fist connected to Juni's face which sent her crashing back-first on one of the frozen trees and made her cough out blood.
 "What?!" Juni said in shock as she raised her head.
 Bleid ran towards Juni and hurls his fist at her but Juni hastily counters by creating a green ice wall to shield her. Nevertheless, this turned out to be in vain as Bleid instantly activates his shell-shock ability at the time his fist was in motion, leading him to easily destroy the ice wall.
   The effect of the destruction was so strong that it brought excessive pain to Juni's mind which made her scream in agony while blood rushed out of her nose. Bleid hoists Juni by the throat with one arm and began to choke her but Juni covers his arm with her ice in attempt to be released, only for Bleid to activate his shellshock ability and destroy the ice with ease, leading Juni to slightly groan in pain.
 "So it's true. Your ice ability is telepathic." Bleid said, "Your ice can handle powerful impacts only if your mind can, but if your ice is damaged or destroyed, then it will hurt your mind."
 "So beautiful." Bleid said with a smile.
 Bleid strikes Juni with two gut punches, a headbutt to her face and finalized his attacks with a roundhouse that made her plummet on the ground. Juni balanced herself with both hands and in a split second, Bleid's entire body was covered in Juni's ice but Bleid activates his shellshock ability again and destroyed Juni's ice instantly.
   Bleid dashed towards Juni with a wild grin and threw a punch that Juni instinctively guards against but was made to viciously roll backwards and hit her back on one of the frozen trees. As Juni raised her head, she immediately caught sight of Bleid charging at her to throw another punch which made her to quickly roll away to the right in order to avert his attack.
   As soon as Juni lifts her head, she caught sight of Bleid standing before her with his leg descending to deliver an axe kick but Juni quickly acts first by catching his leg with both hands and tripping him to the ground. Juni swiftly mounts on top of Bleid, engulfs her right fist with her aura and hurls it at Bleid, only for Bleid to counter by headbutting her knuckle, thus making her groan and jolt back in pain.
  With no time being wasted, Bleid locks his leg around Juni's neck and flips her, thereby making her topple over the ground. Juni leveled herself but at the moment this happened, she was met with a knee to the face by Bleid that made her stagger back.
   Bleid began to release a fury of body blows on Juni, followed with a combo of punches to her face and ends everything with an uppercut with an arm covered with his shellshock ability that raised Juni a bit high and collapse back-first on the surface.
  "Belezerr." Bleid said with a musical tone while smiling.
  At the time Juni laid on the ground groaning in pain, Bleid walked at her direction and stared down at her.
  "You sang well." Bleid said.
 Bleid steps on Juni's chest with a force that broke the ground and made Juni scream in agony while blood flew out of her mouth.
   "That uppercut could have taken your head off, but it wouldn't matter because in the end, you would still live." Bleid said, "Juni: the song that could never die by my hands."
   Bleid began to pivot his foot on Juni's chest that increased her agony, making Bleid to smile at her.
  "How fascinating. Your immortality. Your... Curse... I learnt a lot about you before the game began." Bleid said, "You explained to me on the first time we met that a keillax curse can never be broken or reversed until the conditions are fulfilled; no matter what you do, you have no choice but to live with it.
  Another interesting thing about hytakes is that they are exceptionally rare and they are almost looked at the same way other Kenars look at a black ice user. So much discord among you humans; with all the power you have, you can barely keep yourselves together.
  There was so much about the hytakes i learnt but yours... Yours was so... Heartbreaking."
   Bleid pivots his foot harder on Juni's chest, making her scream louder in pain while her irises glowed.
 "The song that could never die, yet the song that could never live." Bleid said, "You explained to me that you could never die until you've reached a certain age and when i found out that age, i started to feel sorry for you."
   Bleid steps on Juni's chest harder, thereby pushing her deeper into the ground and making her cough out
  "To carry so much pain in your heart, knowing that you are almost out of time; i wonder how you continued your day-to-day activities." Bleid said with a smile, "The song that could never die and could never live! Having a few years to stay in this life before departing to the land of the dead! A curse covered with the lies of immortality!"
   "A walking corpse posing as a living being but in the end, a corpse is still a corpse!" Bleid said as Juni struggled to hold back her tears, "Now i understand why you want to see the Qintari so badly. You want to make amends and do the things you will be able to live with before your time comes to an end.
   You were given the curse at the age of 8 and you were informed that you will have only 10 years to live and within those years, nothing can kill you until your time is up."
  "18 years! 18 years is the age you will reach before your departure!!!" Bleid said with a widened smile, "You are 15! You only have 3 more years left! You may never get to hold your children! You will never get to hold your grandchildren!! You will leave this life with a lot of untapped potentials! With a lot of missed opportunities!!"
  "You are truly the song that could never live, indeed!!!" Bleid said as he discharged a powerful aura that was shot into the sky.
   After Bleid had released his aura, Bleid calmed down and gazed at the sky with a slight smile.
 "What a beautiful song." Bleid said.
   Bleid stared down at Juni and became surprised as she was sobbing.
 "Are you crying?" Bleid asked, "Do my words hurts more than the physical pain i am delivering?"
   Juni ignores Bleid and turns her face away which left him speechless for a moment, until he grinned wildly at her.
   "Alright! If that's how it's going to be, then how about i-!"
 An invisible force suddenly struck Bleid on the face, thereby stopping him from finishing his sentence and causing him to tumble violently with his head hitting the ground repeatedly until it hits a tree. Bleid stood on his feet with a stale expression and as he glanced at Juni's direction, he spots Rico standing in front of Juni (who happened to be sitting on the ground with her knees to the side).
  "You again." Bleid said.
  "Yes, me again." Rico replied.
  "You interrupted me just like before. Tell me something: Do you want to die that badly?" Bleid asked with a death stare as his eyes glowed.
  "Like you could to begin with." Rico replied with a grin.
 "Rico, stop. Do not taunt him." Juni warned, "Get out of here while you still can."
  "And abandon you? Not going to happen." Rico said while still staring at Bleid, "I am not leaving any of my friends. Even as we speak, my soul chains are connected on Garl and Gemari and i am using it to heal them. A true friend never abandons his or her own, the same goes for warriors and their comrades."
 "You are no match for him! He will kill you!" Juni said.
  "When i left for the academy to become a pilgrim, i knew what that meant. Plus being a warrior is a path filled with life and death." Rico replied.
  "You really think you can beat him alone?" Juni asked.
 "Alone? Who said i'm alone?" Rico asked with a smile.
  At that moment, numerous hivelings descended to the ground and stood in front of Rico and Juni while staring at Bleid.
 "Soul chain: hold of the puppeteer." Rico said while smiling with glowing irises, "A technique i practiced in secrecy. My soul chain allows me to connect to my target's soul and restrain their movements but i learnt how to use it to control my target's movements as puppets and make them do as i desire."
  "Rico..." Juni said softly as she was surprised at how Rico has grown.
  "Hoh?" Bleid said with his head slightly bent.
 "I don't have to choose the friends i will protect and the friends i will leave behind." Rico said as he crossed his arms in an x shaped manner while thin blue lines were flowing out of his fingers, "I will protect you all!!"
  Juni had a quick recollection of herself, Van and Garl staring at Rico from behind as he was gazing at the skies.
  "I don't have to choose who should come with me and who shouldn't." Rico said, "Because in the end..."
  "You are all my best friends in the world." Rico said as he glanced at the trio while smiling with closed eyes.
  After recalling that incident, Juni clenched her fists hard.
  "No..." Juni said within herself.
  "Very well. This should be entertaining." Bleid said with a smile.
 "Get ready to be blown away." Rico said with a smile.
 During that time, Bleid and Rico grinned while the two discharged their auras.